Read a full match report of the Premier League game between West Bromwich
Albion and Swansea City at The Hawthorns on Sunday Sep 1, 2013.

He may have got one player back in the form of Nicolas Anelka, but this was a chastening afternoon for Steve Clarke and a cruel, perhaps timely, reminder that West Bromwich Albion sorely need reinforcements.

It had been feared that Anelka would retire, but after compassionate leave following the death of his solicitor he made his first appearance on his return on Sunday and at times appeared exasperated at the sheer lack of options available to him.

Clarke, who cut a reserved figure and sat in his seat for most of the game, undoubtedly feels the same.

The Scot is facing a race against time to strengthen a squad that finished eighth last season in a bid to avoid becoming the latest Albion manager to suffer the consequences of the club’s frugal approach to the transfer market.

Swansea City had only returned from a gruelling 2,500-mile round trip to Romania in the early hours of Friday morning but their routine victory should act as a wake-up call for Albion’s board.

Clarke’s team have failed to score in three league games and are yet to complete a cash purchase in the transfer window and his frustration will only be growing ahead of the deadline on Monday.

He has seen clubs such as Swansea, who finished below West Bromwich last season, spend more than £20 million this summer and goals from Ben Davies and Pablo Hernández earned Michael Laudrup his first points of the season.

Monday promises to be crucial for West Bromwich or it could prove a long hard campaign. “It’s too late now to be urgent, we have the targets,” Clarke said. “Now is not about panicking, it is about getting all those deals over the line.

“We are close to one or two because if we are not close it will be difficult to get over the line. I hope there will be some good news for the supporters, we all need good news, I need good news. I need some players in forward areas that can give us a bit of quality so we create chances. It’s another home defeat in which we haven’t scored. That’s not a good way to start a season.”

It could be argued that their start has been an extension from the wimpish end to last season. Despite their impressive finish in May, their results this year has been alarming, with only four wins from 22 league games – undeniably relegation form.

Swansea displayed no signs of the lethargy that afflicted Stoke City two years ago on Sundays after European sojourns and they were ahead after 22 minutes. Hernández easily bypassed Liam Ridgewell and though his first cross was cleared by Claudio Yacob, he was given far too much room to deliver another centre which was expertly volleyed into the corner by Davies.

Anelka produced a typically brooding performance and came close to an equaliser on the half-hour, drilling wide of the far post, but that was as good as it got.

Swansea had produced an impressive 91 per cent pass completion in the opening 45 minutes and had the cigars out for large portions of the second. Clarke introduced England Under-21 international Saido Berahino, the scorer of a hat-trick against Newport on Tuesday night, with 15 minutes remaining in a final attempt to kick some life into his team.

However, Hernández killed off the game seven minutes from time, 60 seconds after skimming a shot off the top of the crossbar. Michu’s shot was blocked by Jonas Olsson but the ball was the played back to Hernández, who could not miss.

After two successive league defeats, this was an ideal way for Laudrup to finish the week. In an ironic twist, he could bolster his squad by capturing West Bromwich striker Peter Odemwingie in a £3 million deal.

He said: “We knew it was very important for us to get something out of this game. When we saw the fixtures against the champions and then Tottenham and then you look at squads like West Brom and try to get something. This is a great three points with Liverpool and Arsenal coming up.”.